CLAUSE 73.—(Duty of local authority to have regard to amenities, etc.) (Hansard, 2 July 1935)

§ Mr. SKELTON

I beg to move, in page 51, line 3, after "may," to insert: and if required by the Department shall. In Committee an Amendment was moved to insert the word "shall" for the word "may" in Sub-section (2), and this Amendment, if accepted, will place the duty on every housing authority to appoint a local advisory committee to advise them on matters such as the layout of houses and planning. Of the 220 housing authorities in Scotland 170 are small burghs, some of them very small indeed, mere villages, and their housing needs are negligible. It is unreasonable that these small burghs should be forced to appoint a housing advisory committee, but where the size of the burgh seems to make it a suitable case to have a housing committee the Department of Health may require them to have one. The House will agree that this is a wise proposal. In the larger towns no doubt great advantages will occur from having an advisory committee to give technical advice. Where you have such a large increase in the number of houses it is a real problem to see that, so far as possible, the suburbs of the larger cities are planned as wisely as possible from the artistic and aesthetic point of view. That is a matter of increasing importance, but it is one which I fear has been somewhat overlooked since the War. We are anxious that it should not be disregarded and that is the reason for the Amendment.